Keeley Hazell in FHM Australia Brings You Today's Poker News

Our featured poker news today is brought to you by Keeley Hazell's recent photo spread in FHM Australia. Got poker news to share, shoot us an email.

:: Guy loses his job, starts underground poker game in his home, pimps his wife as a topless dealer, gets arrested (Click here)

:: Jeff Haney of the Las Vegas Sun handicaps the field for the upcoming 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship (Click here)

:: Oi, Vai! Some shlemiel politician in Israel has the chutzpah to propose a bill that would force internet providers to block online gambling sites (Click here)

:: The Poker Players Alliance spent $900,000 lobbying the government last year on behalf of online poker, which is legal (Click here)

:: Mike McMillian grabs $168,000 for winning the main event of the Venetian's Deep Stack Extravaganza (Click here)

:: A poker home game in San Antonio, the city loved by Richard Lee even though it's a craphole, was shot up and robbed, a player was critically injured, and the Pokerati crew is on the story (Click here)

The entities are in LA and Las Vegas this week for the WPT LA Poker Classic, WPT Invitational and the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship. Keep posted of all the action here.

Click Keeley Hazell photos below. Dos mas after the jump . . .

Poker News, Girls and A. Dikshit

:: Doctors, bankers and some guy named Taco were among the 3,200 people on 2006 WSOP final table-ist Richard Lee's bookie list. [Click here] :: British glam model Gemma Atkinson is still famous for her really large breasts [Click here] :: Max "The Italian Pirate" Pescatori won a prelim event at the LA Poker Classic, still has the dumbest nickname in poker [Click here] :: Clothes aversed model Eve Wyrwal might be our new favorite British distraction [Click here] :: The land of A. Dikshit will host its first-ever poker tour when the inaugural India Poker Tour kicks off this August [Click here] :: Australian Victoria's Secret model Miranda Kerr has phenomenal legs [Click here] :: Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke compete to see who's the better poker coach on FSN's Best Damn Poker Show. Sounds like a show we thought of 5 years ago [Click here] :: Aussie hottie Imogen Bailey is always worth the look [Click here] :: Harvard prof Charles Nesson is in London to talk about the effect US gambling ban has on global free trade [Click here] :: Finally, below after the jump is a great idea for a booth at this year's WSOP GLE, if Jeffrey Pollack would let the strippers back. Please.

Richard "The Chinaman" Lee and His San Antonio Sweatshirt Charged in San Antonio Bookmaking Investigation in His Hometown of San Antonio

It's been a long time since we've heard anything about the illegal gambling case against 2006 WSOP final table-ist Richard "The Chinaman" Lee. Last we even thought about it was at the 2007 WSOP when we spotted Lee, wearing his San Antonio sweatshirt, hanging around the Sau Paulo and playing a single table satellite against Leif Force, Daniel Baldev, and Miserable Fuck.

Despite some opinions that Lee would not be charged (mostly because some high ranking Alamo officials were rumored to be clients), Lee has now face (a negotiated misdemeanor) charge of "gambling promotion." Arraignment is set for November 7th and Lee could face a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

Read a bunch more about it at Poker News here.

Richard Lee is Here at the 2007 WSOP, Not in Jail, Still Loves His San Antonio T-Shirt

Richard Lee, the poker player who made headlines last year after finishing sixth in the Main Event at the 2006 WSOP only to return home to San Antonio and have his house raided and his bank accounts frozen for running an illegal gambling operation, was seen today in the hallway of the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino, apparently getting ready to play in this year's event.

As expected, the man known as the Chinaman and "biggest bookie in town" was wearing the same San Antonio t-shirt he wore repeatedly last year at the WSOP and in numerous TV interviews after the raid.

The shirt strangely became Lee's rallying cry last summer as he attempted to sway public opinion in San Antonio. In one interview he rambled on incessantly about the shirt saying:

"What I came here to say today is...I'm wearing this San Antonio t-shirt...this happens to be the same t-shirt I wore during the WSOP."

"I was proud as hell to wear this t-shirt."

"Rather than taking the endorsement money [from online gaming sites at the WSOP final table]...I'm just gonna wear [this San Antonio t-shirt]...and try to do something nice for the city."

While we weren't surprised to see Lee in his San Antonio t-shirt today (although it's still surprising to us that someone can be proud about living in San Antonio), we were surprised to not see him in jail considering he was allegedly running an Internet gambling site called www.betbsbnow.com and had a mountain of evidence against him. The San Antonio news has strangely been quiet about the Richard Lee case since last year, only mentioning him once recently when another operation was raided in May. No formal charges have ever been brought against the Chinaman, which may have more to do with the fact that Lee's operation implicated the names of promiment San Antonio figures and less with him being innocent of any city, state or federal laws.

In other Lee news, no sighting of his hot daughters yet.

Poker Pro Not Named Richard Lee Nabbed for Illegal Gambling Operation

High-stakes poker player James "The Mortician" Giordano, of Miami, Fla., was arrested Wednesday for spearheading a billion-dollar-a-year gambling operation that authorities said was the largest they've ever encountered and rivaled casino sports betting, basically making Richard Lee's San Antonio-based online gambling scheme seem rinky-dink and half ass, as most things are in San Antonio.

The arrest of Giordano, who recently won the $1,000 buy-in this summer at the Bellagio Cup II, was the result of a year long sting after police got a tip from a suspect in a separate organized crime probe. That tip eventually led to a covert operation at a New York City hotel where Giordano was staying while in town for a wedding. While out, the NYPD went into Giordano's room and made a digital copy of his laptop's hard drive, which revealed "a network of 2,000 bookies who had taken more than $3.3 billion in cash wagers since 2004 from tens of thousands of customers nationwide." Apparently the scheme involved a website called Playwithal.com where bookies would assign bettors a secret code to track their wagers and results through the site.

Investigators: Richard Lee's Operation a Family Affair (and People Still Use Rolodexes)

The case against this year's WSOP main event 6th place finisher, Richard Lee, continues to build, with San Antonio police recently raiding the home of Lee's wife's cousin, Michelle Stiehl-Guerra. This is coming on the heels of a raid on the home of Larry Davenport, Lee's son-in-law, in connection with the case, which suggests that Lee's alleged bookmaking operation was one big family affair. Which is kind of sweet, when you think about it, if it wasn't a federal crime and all.

The warrant said Stiehl-Guerra, who went by the name Chele because this is San Antonio, maintained players' lists for Lee, and during the raid, police reportedly seized a Rolodex, address book, computer CDs and cell phones.

A Rolodex?

People still use Rolodexes? That's fantastic!

Did they use a suànpán to do their accounting?

Anyway, read a great article about the latest in the Lee case here and a TV news story here, which reports that all of Lee's assets are still frozen, including the nearly $3 million dollars he won at the World Series of Poker.

It's Not Looking Good for Richard Lee

Richard Lee better be friends with politicians and judges and DAs in San Antonio that love him as much as he claims to love San Antonio.

Otherwise he's fucked.

According to San Antonio's Express News, Richard Lee, known in San Antonio gambling circles as "The Chinaman" and also the "biggest bookie in town," has been running an Internet gambling site called www.betbsbnow.com (which stands for BoxSeatBetting and claimed to be "an advanced sports wagering club offering VIP customer service, excellent odds, live lines, downloadable desktop scoreboards..." but which in the past 12 hour or so has apparently been shut down) more or less out of his home.

While Lee has yet to be charged, it's not looking good, as the article lists what appears to be a mountain of evidence against him.

Looking back over the past month, and particularly at his rambling "I love San Antonio and my t-shirt" press conference last week, what's interesting is how Lee said over and over again that he didn't want to endorse an online gaming site. He didn't want the obligations of being affiliated with a site and he didn't want to travel much away from San Antonio, which in itself proves there's gotta be something fishy going on, given how badly that city sucks. But now, it all makes sense--why endorse another site when you're secretly running your own?

While this is all bad for Lee, the city of San Antonio could look a lot worse too, if that's even possible, because also allegedly seized from Lee's estate is a "list" containing the names of prominent San Antonio figures.

Which might be the only explanation as to why Lee HASN'T been formally charged yet.

Making the Rounds on the Richard Lee Raid

We're no social scientists here but the empirical data, if we knew what that meant, we've seen so far is that there's much less interest in the Richard Lee raid than the Crispin Leyser v. Jamie Gold suit, which probably has something everything to do with the fact that Lee isn't an ex-Hollywood agent but instead donked off all his chips to an ex-Hollywood agent who would go on to become the world champ while Lee would go on to finish sixth, become a sore loser and head home to dump heap San Antonio.

Making the poker blogs rounds this afternoon though, it seems that the Richard Lee raid has taken the spotlight off Gold . . . if at least for now, and just a little bit, but not much longer, because no one really cares about sixth place, at least we don't because any other place but first place is last place and if you don't think that then you're a loser and we hate losers.

Anyway, worth checking out on the Lee raid are CardSquad.com and PokerBlog.com, both of which have done considerable reporting on the story. Of note, CardSquad.com's Wil Wheaton points to a poignant commentary on the Lee raid by Michael Craig, the author of The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King. PokerBlog.com on the other hand has learned that Lee was playing an MTT on PartyPoker.com at the time of the raid, which the Bexar County district attorney has apparently come out and said "that that act in and of itself is illegal." So if the bookie charges don't fly, they always have that to hang on him . . . because it's not like the SAPD has other illegal acts going on around town to worry about.

Other CardSquad.com posts on the Lee raid here, here and here.

Other PokerBlog.com posts on the Lee raid here, here and here.

Richard Lee Loves San Antonio, His T-Shirt, and His Freedom

Maybe Richard Lee took our praise of his adept message control in response to the illegal gambling allegations against him a little too much to heart.

With legal evidence against Richard Lee reportedly mounting, the 2006 WSOP sixth place finisher, wearing his favorite San Antonio t-shirt, went on the offensive yet again, holding a press conference to begin swaying the public's opinion his way by saying:

1. He loves San Antonio.
2. He loves his San Antonio t-shirt.
3. He turned down lots of money from online sites to wear his San Antonio t-shirt during the WSOP final table.
4. Which if you read between the lines, then how can someone who loves San Antonio THIS MUCH and even turned down money from ONLINE GAME SITES because of his love of San Antonio, EVER be guilty of running illegal gambling operations.
5. And if you read even more between the lines, he loves his freedom. So please don't let them send him to jail. Because he is San Antonio's favorite son, and it would be very un-San Antonian of you to let them send him to jail.

We haven't seen this kind of blatantly obvious yet slightly amusing spinmiestering since the Clinton administration.

This spinmiestering is an interesting tactic by Lee. As you know, District Attorney's are elected officials. So in high-profile cases, it's important for them not to just build a strong case to win the legal battle, but also to win the case in the court of public opinion. Just look at how DA Mike Nifong tried to use the Duke lacrosse rape case as a means to win re-election.

In the linked clip, Lee goes on, and on, and just when you think he can go on no longer, he goes on and on and on some more to express his love for San Antonio. In our experience, when you feel the need to so desperately get the public on your side by going after their hearts, yet neglecting to really go after their minds, it's usually because you know the hammer is about to drop on you. Hard. The reality is, Lee knows the charges against him are serious and probably knows the evidence is solid, despite his claims that he is "unaware" that anything he did was wrong. Lee is likely starting to realize he may be spending some time behind bars, and perhaps feels that getting the public on his side may be his one-outer on the river.

Watch Lee's latest press conference here, and if you don't have the patience to view the entire clip, we've captured some of his comments after the jump.

Richard Lee Doesn't Wait a Week to Respond to Raid

Obviously not operating from the same crisis management playbook as Jamie Gold's PR reps at B|W|R, Richard Lee wasted no time today to respond to the raid on his home last night.

"Just a few hours ago I was one of San Antonio's favorite sons," Lee told a reporter from the San Antonio Express-News. "It seems like maybe I've gone from hero to zero in the course of a few hours."

Lee continues, "I don't believe I've done anything wrong, and if they prove differently on something I thought was OK, well, I guess I'm going to have to cross that bridge when I get to it."

Lee's willingness to speak at this time and his apparent sense of humility and measured statement show that:

(1) He understands the media's interest in his story;
(2) He wants to manage the flow of information; and
(3) He is assuming the situation will only escalate and get worse.

The above are pretty much textbook principles when it comes to crisis management, and the folks at B|W|R could learn a thing or two from Richard Lee, which is ironic because the above three principles are right off the B|W|R web page on crisis management, which they apparently have torn out of their playbook and replaced with this page.

More on the story here, here and PokerBlog.com, who point out how Lee, unlike Gold, faced the media himself rather than have PR flacks do it for him. Also be sure to check out PokerNews.com's piece, where they pose the intriguing question: "If authorities decide that Lee's buy in to the Main Event was secured with ill gotten funds, would they then have the right to seize the $2.8 Million Dollars Lee won with his 6th place finish?"

Police Seize Richard Lee's Property for "Allegedly" Running a "Well-Oiled" Gambling Operation

Another week, another black eye for a 2006 WSOP final table finisher.

We detailed earlier this month that Richard Lee, a semi-professional gambler, is known to have a lot of gamble in him. Apparently, the police knew this too. And they also knew that he was doing some semi-professional gambling illegally out of his home.

Last night in Shavano Park, the non-dump heap part of deap heap San Antonio, police executed a warrant on Richard Lee's home and began seizing property and vehicles. Police believe/probably know for sure now, that Lee, the sixth-place finisher at the 2006 WSOP Main Event who ripped Jamie Gold after getting knocked out by the eventual champ, obtained these items from his involvement in an illegal gambling operation.

Police spokesperson Joe Rios told San Antonio's #1 choice for breaking news!, WOAI, that Lee's house has been under investigation for months, and police turned up multiple gambling receipts during the search. Rios says that Lee (allegedly) is basically, "a bookie taking bets online and then placing those bets."

Payouts from this operation have been well over a half a million dollars.

Says Rios: "It was a pretty well-oiled machine they were running out here."

More details to come...

Richard Lee Bashes Jamie Gold During Interview

It would be easy to label Richard Lee, the sixth place finisher in this year's WSOP, a sore loser after he repeatedly ripped WSOP champ Jamie Gold as a horrible player in a radio interview he did 12 hours after busting out.

Granted, there's a saying regarding something about glass houses that may be applicable here, as we've called people way worse things in the past for much, much less. So we'll tread lightly.

And perhaps Lee is entitled to voice his own opinion of Gold without much deference to grace. Perhaps he earned that right after eight grueling days of poker and outlasting more than 8,700 players, only to get knocked out by Gold when Gold had...um...a much better hand and Lee failed to account for the former Hollywood agent's tendency to not laydown easily in the face of a massive reraise. We also understand that it all may have been said in the heat of the moment, the fog of battle, or perhaps, the haze from many long hours of poker followed by an early morning of drowning away sorrows and drinking away thoughts of a WSOP title that might have been.